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From what I've seen, the answer is no they do not. When an existing customer buys a new TV and calls to say he needs HD, the rep responds by telling him that a) he'll need a new receiver which will generate a new 2-year committment and an additional charge of $10 will be added to his bill. If (and only if) the customer mentions that competitors in his area do not charge extra for HD, he'll get the credit.

Not quite. The reason this offer was made two years ago was in direct response to DISH advertising "Free HD for Life". DirecTV then also offered new customers free HD, and in an unusual move, created a way for existing customers to also get that benefit, though limited to two years.

I guess it's an example of how most subscribers aren't as aware of these offers as board members here. Two years ago, we didn't have HD so we weren't paying attention to anything that mentioned HD. In fact, that was about the time we switched to U-Verse (still with SD-only). A few days before we bought an HDTV, we got a mailer from TWC touting free HD so I asked for, and received, a credit from ATT when we upgraded. Upon returning to DirecTV, I mentioned the TWC "free HD" policy and immediately got a credit (with no limit stated on the bill).

The bottom line seems to be that it is a competitve policy.

If I had not received the email and then the postcard from DirecTV, I would have just gritted my teeth and take the increase, since it was limited. But DirecTV told me twice that I still qualified for the credit, so I expected them to honor it. Eventually they did, for me, but clearly not for everyone else here.

Anyone who received a written statement that the credit would be continued shouldn't accept the "it was a mistake" excuse. If that happened to me, I'd file a complaint with the FTC and copy DirecTV.

I realize the horse is probably out of the barn, but if they charged the way I suggested from the beginning, they could hold the line on no discounts. That would be much more fair than giving discounts to those who are better at negotiating. Their bottom line wouldn't change, they would still be making billions like they are now. I'm not begrudging them making lots of money, but they could be more fair in how they go about it.

This is what JC Penny thought too.. Instead of having sales every weekend and only being able to sell an item if it was 40% off, they said "we're just not going to have any sales and slash prices on everything to a fair price".. Their sales dropped 20% in the first quarter. They are now starting to have "sales" again, but to do that, they are going to have to raise prices.

Americans are addicted to discounts.. We want to think we are getting something cheaper than the next guy, even if we aren't.

I guess it's an example of how most subscribers aren't as aware of these offers as board members here. Two years ago, we didn't have HD so we weren't paying attention to anything that mentioned HD. In fact, that was about the time we switched to U-Verse (still with SD-only). A few days before we bought an HDTV, we got a mailer from TWC touting free HD so I asked for, and received, a credit from ATT when we upgraded. Upon returning to DirecTV, I mentioned the TWC "free HD" policy and immediately got a credit (with no limit stated on the bill). .

In all fairness, TWC does not really offer free HD. They just put the additional HD charge on the HD receiver instead of on the package. This is simply a marketing ploy. DirecTV is one of the few companies that charges the exact same receiver fee regardless of which type it is, $6. You get the credit back for the first one.

They just put the additional HD charge on the HD receiver instead of on the package. This is simply a marketing ploy. DirecTV is one of the few companies that charges the exact same receiver fee regardless of which type it is, $6.

That doesn't seem to be the case in this market. All of my friends who upgraded to HD just did a no-charge exchange for the receiver and were done with no increase at all to the total bill.

Penny's problem is those that are looking for "everyday low prices" arent going to Pennys, they are going to WalMart.

...and there are tons of "sales" at Wally World, they are labeled "Rollbacks", they also price match any local retail competitor, and then there are the "Clearance" items, and the infamous "Green Stickered" items.

They may have Everyday Low Prices, but they have plenty of sales, as well.

In all fairness, TWC does not really offer free HD. They just put the additional HD charge on the HD receiver instead of on the package. This is simply a marketing ploy. DirecTV is one of the few companies that charges the exact same receiver fee regardless of which type it is, $6. You get the credit back for the first one.

I doubt TWC charges $99/$199/$399 to lease their boxes up front either.

Not one for dead horse beating but I wanted to jump in again with something else regarding this issue/non issue.

I posted on the 15th that I had gotten the e-mail stating as long as I kept ABP that I would get the $10/month credit, as most others have gotten.

I have not added, changed, removed anything to/from my account for the system to generate any messages, e-mail or postcards so I assumed, as have most others, this meant I was getting another 2 year credit.

I can see people speaking of a post card they are getting telling them shortly after the e-mail that they are no longer on ABP and that upon calling in they are told this was sent out in error and that they have to haggle to get the $10/month credit. Some are successful, some are not.

FFWD to today, 6/25 and I too, get a postcard in the mail, however mine says nothing to the effect of me NOT having ABP. My postcard on the front has my name, address, etc and says in bold letters YOU NOW HAVE FREE HAD ACCESS FOR TWO YEARS. Flip it over and it details the qualifications to keep the credit.

I don't believe that I got the same post card that others are getting unless I'm just not understanding the others. Am I missing something here or did I get a different card from others. Also, this has been going back and forth for several weeks+ now with people getting cards and e-mail only when they call in to be told it was a computer glitch. Shouldn't the glitch be fixed by now and the cards stop coming?

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I signed up for the Free 24 Months HD promo as soon as it was offered so my anniversary must be on this billing cycle. I get billed on the 26th so I thought I'd check my account today. It shows the normal credit for $10.69, which is for the HD Access fee plus tax. I never received the proverbial email. I might have received the postcard but I'm pretty ruthless about throwing away junk mail and I didn't see it. At least in my case, DirecTV extended the free HD promo with no muss or fuss, just like it should happen.

Not one for dead horse beating but I wanted to jump in again with something else regarding this issue/non issue.

I posted on the 15th that I had gotten the e-mail stating as long as I kept ABP that I would get the $10/month credit, as most others have gotten.

I have not added, changed, removed anything to/from my account for the system to generate any messages, e-mail or postcards so I assumed, as have most others, this meant I was getting another 2 year credit.

I can see people speaking of a post card they are getting telling them shortly after the e-mail that they are no longer on ABP and that upon calling in they are told this was sent out in error and that they have to haggle to get the $10/month credit. Some are successful, some are not.

FFWD to today, 6/25 and I too, get a postcard in the mail, however mine says nothing to the effect of me NOT having ABP. My postcard on the front has my name, address, etc and says in bold letters YOU NOW HAVE FREE HAD ACCESS FOR TWO YEARS. Flip it over and it details the qualifications to keep the credit.

I don't believe that I got the same post card that others are getting unless I'm just not understanding the others. Am I missing something here or did I get a different card from others. Also, this has been going back and forth for several weeks+ now with people getting cards and e-mail only when they call in to be told it was a computer glitch. Shouldn't the glitch be fixed by now and the cards stop coming?

I signed up for the Free 24 Months HD promo as soon as it was offered so my anniversary must be on this billing cycle. I get billed on the 26th so I thought I'd check my account today. It shows the normal credit for $10.69, which is for the HD Access fee plus tax. I never received the proverbial email. I might have received the postcard but I'm pretty ruthless about throwing away junk mail and I didn't see it. At least in my case, DirecTV extended the free HD promo with no muss or fuss, just like it should happen.

I'm not so sure that you can be confident that your free HD has, in fact, been extended. When there was a screw-up about a year ago and when the $10 credit disappeared from bills, DIRECTV said that they were extending the 24 month free HD credit by one month. I know that, in my case, to make up for the missing credit, they gave me some sort of $10 good will credit, and they also did the 1 month extension of the 24 months of credits. Thus, I won't know for sure until I get my next statement whether my credit has been renewed or whether it has expired.

Also, the emails and post cards started being sent several weeks ago. Even though DIRECTV is telling people that they were sent out by mistake, they are still sending them out. I, for example, got my post card just today. If they were sent out in error, you would think that, after several weeks, they would have stopped sending them out. But this is just one more thing that makes me shake my head and wonder how a situation could be handled any worse than DIRECTV has handled this one (and others).

I got the post card that says "DON'T RISK LOSING YOUR FREE HD ACCESS" on the front, and on the back "to call within seven days of receiving this notice". I just called and the lady told me I have one more month of free HD, and to call back on the July 29th to see "what HD promotions are available". I guess I'll see what happens in a month.

Not one for dead horse beating but I wanted to jump in again with something else regarding this issue/non issue.

I posted on the 15th that I had gotten the e-mail stating as long as I kept ABP that I would get the $10/month credit, as most others have gotten.

I have not added, changed, removed anything to/from my account for the system to generate any messages, e-mail or postcards so I assumed, as have most others, this meant I was getting another 2 year credit.

I can see people speaking of a post card they are getting telling them shortly after the e-mail that they are no longer on ABP and that upon calling in they are told this was sent out in error and that they have to haggle to get the $10/month credit. Some are successful, some are not.

FFWD to today, 6/25 and I too, get a postcard in the mail, however mine says nothing to the effect of me NOT having ABP. My postcard on the front has my name, address, etc and says in bold letters YOU NOW HAVE FREE HAD ACCESS FOR TWO YEARS. Flip it over and it details the qualifications to keep the credit.

I don't believe that I got the same post card that others are getting unless I'm just not understanding the others. Am I missing something here or did I get a different card from others. Also, this has been going back and forth for several weeks+ now with people getting cards and e-mail only when they call in to be told it was a computer glitch. Shouldn't the glitch be fixed by now and the cards stop coming?

I believe that there are two different post cards that have been sent out. Some have gotten the card saying that they do not have auto bill pay. Others have gotten the card that says that they now have 2 years of free HD and detailing what they need to do to continue getting the credit. In my case, the card that I got today was the one telling what I needed to do to maintain the credit.

I signed up for the Free 24 Months HD promo as soon as it was offered so my anniversary must be on this billing cycle. I get billed on the 26th so I thought I'd check my account today. It shows the normal credit for $10.69, which is for the HD Access fee plus tax. I never received the proverbial email. I might have received the postcard but I'm pretty ruthless about throwing away junk mail and I didn't see it. At least in my case, DirecTV extended the free HD promo with no muss or fuss, just like it should happen.

I'm not so sure that you can be confident that your free HD has, in fact, been extended. When there was a screw-up about a year ago and when the $10 credit disappeared from bills, DIRECTV said that they were extending the 24 month free HD credit by one month. I know that, in my case, to make up for the missing credit, they gave me some sort of $10 good will credit, and they also did the 1 month extension of the 24 months of credits. Thus, I won't know for sure until I get my next statement whether my credit has been renewed or whether it has expired.

Also, the emails and post cards started being sent several weeks ago. Even though DIRECTV is telling people that they were sent out by mistake, they are still sending them out. I, for example, got my post card just today. If they were sent out in error, you would think that, after several weeks, they would have stopped sending them out. But this is just one more thing that makes me shake my head and wonder how a situation could be handled any worse than DIRECTV has handled this one (and others).

I received the post card today that says "You now have free HD Access for two years." I also received the email about a week and a half ago. I had to call DirecTV this past Saturday for an HD receiver that's giving a diagnostic code when it boots and for some reason the CSR sent me over to retention because I simply asked if I could just upgrade it to a DVR but anyway, I asked about the HD Access and explained the email and retention seemed to know nothing about it told me that the credit has already been removed from my account and there was nothing they could do (customer since 1999.. 2003 according to their systems).

My two year contract should be up now. I guess I'll see if they charge me for HD on next months statement, if they do I'm going to call and try to get it for "free", even though it should be regardless..... If they won't give it to me I'll just switch carriers, there's no way I'm paying $10 more a less when both TWC and Dish offer more HD channels.

I got "the postcard" yesterday, too (third time I've gotten that postcard since December), and my June 22 statement still had the HD credit on it....I guess we'll see what happens on the July statement.

I also got the "you now have free HD access for two years" postcard yesterday. My June 23 bill had the discount, but I did not sign up right away, and there is a month owed for having to call after the end of the first year (when it went away prematurely), so it could still disappear.